Loyalty and Leniency

Former Attorney General Richard Kleindienst--the first Cabinet alumnus since 1929 to be convicted of a crime --stood solemnly before Federal Judge George L. Hart Jr. in Washington. In an unusually lenient deal with Special Prosecutor Leon Jaworski, Kleindienst had been allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of having failed to testify fully at his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now he was to be sentenced.

Kleindienst's attorney pleaded that his client had "a distinguished record in the military and in service to the Government of the United States." The judge noted Kleindienst's fine character, the supporting letters from his friends and the favorable report from a probation officer. His offense, said Hart, "did not reflect a mind bent on deception, but rather reflects a heart too loyal and considerate of the feelings of others."

A defendant's misguided loyalty seems a shaky basis for judicial compassion. That could be a rationale for going easy on most of the Watergate offenders. Kleindienst's offense was to testify--falsely--that the President had never applied any pressure on him in the celebrated ITT antitrust cases. Later he admitted that at one point, Nixon had ordered him to drop a Supreme Court appeal with the admonition: "You son of a bitch, don't you understand the English language?" Certainly the Senate committee had been totally deceived by his testimony. But Hart fined Kleindienst only $100, gave him a 30-day jail sentence--and suspended both penalties. Tears, presumably of gratitude and relief, streamed down Kleindienst's cheeks as he left the courtroom.

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